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How do I deliberately blur a picture on AF
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Nov 8, 2015 15:51:16   #
asyncritus
 
Quickie:

I took a picture (attached) using the autofocus, and it came out blurred.

Trouble is, it's quite beautiful BECAUSE of the blurring. But... I haven't a clue as to WHY it blurred, and how to repeat the effect...DUH....

Any ideas?



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Nov 8, 2015 16:02:35   #
MtnMan Loc: ID
 
asyncritus wrote:
Quickie:

I took a picture (attached) using the autofocus, and it came out blurred.

Trouble is, it's quite beautiful BECAUSE of the blurring. But... I haven't a clue as to WHY it blurred, and how to repeat the effect...DUH....

Any ideas?


Long exposure camera movement.

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Nov 8, 2015 16:42:44   #
Rongnongno Loc: FL
 
No idea other than foreground element since there is no 'original' to look at the EXIF.

You may consider posting this in the photo analysis forum WITH the original box checked?

As to reproduce the effect?
Easy, focus on something, lock it. Place something in front of the lens and shoot away. Make sure the exposure is the same or nearly the same thought.

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Nov 8, 2015 16:50:14   #
Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA
 
Set to manual focus, wide open aperture (lowest f-stop number available), experiment.

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Nov 8, 2015 16:52:11   #
dandi Loc: near Seattle, WA
 
Try to apply blur filter in PP.

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Nov 8, 2015 19:48:45   #
rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA
 
If you are using a simple point & shoot camera:
Focus on an object that is at different distance than your intended subject. Lock focus by pressing shutter button half way and holding it. Recompose such that the subject is positioned in frame where you want it to be, and then continue pressing shutter all the way. Now you have an image with an out-of-focus subject while the camera is in auto-focus.

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Nov 9, 2015 07:17:54   #
cesarakg Loc: Candelaria - Brazil
 
It appears to me that there's something between the flower and the camera, and the camera did the autofocus on the flower. Perhaps the foreground was too close to the lens to be focused, and the camera focused on the flower.

Every time you point a camera to something and acquires focus, there's only a part of the passage that will be on focus. We call this the in-focus region, and its length is the depth of focus and depth of field. The trick to get something blurred is making the focus such that the thing we get blurred is outside the in-focus region.

There are a lot to learn here, but the basic to get shallow depth of field is:
1. use long lenses. Short tele is enough (80mm or more). Long tele will force you to use a walkie-talkie to communicate with the subject (more than 400mm).
2. use wide aperture. A bigger aperture can compensate for a shorter lens - but within certain limits.
3. get the closest you can to the subject, maintaining the background the farter possible.

You can use a shorter lens, like a 50mm, if you use a wide aperture (f/1.8) and keep the distances correct.

With autofocus there's a trick, you can choose the autofocus point the camera will use, in most models. But in certain modes, you can't do this. Refer to the camera's manual.

More experienced photographers can give you better advice, I only know this little.

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Nov 9, 2015 07:38:17   #
Tom G Loc: Atlanta, GA
 
Dear Mr. "Cesarkg",

Your written English language skills are excellent, and I suspect you speak just as clearly. Many from the U.S., do not know or use English as well as you do. Further, the percent of people in this country who speak Portuguese is in the single digits.

And, your advice is also very good. I suspect your photographic skill level is also quite high.

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Nov 9, 2015 09:12:12   #
wowbmw Loc: Grant, Colorado
 
Tom G wrote:
Dear Mr. "Cesarkg",

Your written English language skills are excellent, and I suspect you speak just as clearly. Many from the U.S., do not know or use English as well as you do. Further, the percent of people in this country who speak Portuguese is in the single digits.

And, your advice is also very good. I suspect your photographic skill level is also quite high.


:thumbup: :thumbup:

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Nov 9, 2015 09:26:06   #
chapjohn Loc: Tigard, Oregon
 
Good advice given about wide aperture, use spot focus to put the focus on the flower.

Reply
Nov 9, 2015 10:14:24   #
Bozsik Loc: Orangevale, California
 
cesarakg wrote:
It appears to me that there's something between the flower and the camera, and the camera did the autofocus on the flower. Perhaps the foreground was too close to the lens to be focused, and the camera focused on the flower.

Every time you point a camera to something and acquires focus, there's only a part of the passage that will be on focus. We call this the in-focus region, and its length is the depth of focus and depth of field. The trick to get something blurred is making the focus such that the thing we get blurred is outside the in-focus region.

There are a lot to learn here, but the basic to get shallow depth of field is:
1. use long lenses. Short tele is enough (80mm or more). Long tele will force you to use a walkie-talkie to communicate with the subject (more than 400mm).
2. use wide aperture. A bigger aperture can compensate for a shorter lens - but within certain limits.
3. get the closest you can to the subject, maintaining the background the farter possible.

You can use a shorter lens, like a 50mm, if you use a wide aperture (f/1.8) and keep the distances correct.

With autofocus there's a trick, you can choose the autofocus point the camera will use, in most models. But in certain modes, you can't do this. Refer to the camera's manual.

More experienced photographers can give you better advice, I only know this little.
It appears to me that there's something between th... (show quote)



:thumbup:

Reply
 
 
Nov 9, 2015 10:14:39   #
Bozsik Loc: Orangevale, California
 
Tom G wrote:
Dear Mr. "Cesarkg",

Your written English language skills are excellent, and I suspect you speak just as clearly. Many from the U.S., do not know or use English as well as you do. Further, the percent of people in this country who speak Portuguese is in the single digits.

And, your advice is also very good. I suspect your photographic skill level is also quite high.


:thumbup:

Reply
Nov 9, 2015 10:54:25   #
garygrafic Loc: South Florida
 
1. Your picture is not blurred. Note the yellow flower and it's immediate green leaves they are sharp (relatively). The massive greenish blurry area
is green leaves almost touching the lens.
2. If you want to duplicate this picture, do NOT use auto focus, use manual. In fact use manual for everything.
3. For purposes of this exercise I strongly advise using a tripod.
4. Focus on whatever, introduce masses of things of color in front of the lens, first shot should be wide open, the center of interest will be sharp,the rest will be completely out of focus. Now stop the lens down one stop make appropriate change in shutter speed. View scene with 'stop down'
depressed and observe how the blurry area gets a bit sharper. This is a good time to observe how the various f: stops affect the sharpness (but not your original point of interest, remember you focused on this manually)
5. Play, enjoy, film is cheap!

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Nov 9, 2015 12:14:55   #
Kuzano
 
asyncritus wrote:
Quickie:

I took a picture (attached) using the autofocus, and it came out blurred.

Trouble is, it's quite beautiful BECAUSE of the blurring. But... I haven't a clue as to WHY it blurred, and how to repeat the effect...DUH....

Any ideas?


Thin coating of Vaseline on a uv filter. That's what we used to do for soft focus. Keep it in a filter case.

Not sure if this will work with autofocus, but used to work nicely with manual focus.

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Nov 9, 2015 13:26:45   #
cesarakg Loc: Candelaria - Brazil
 
Take a look at this "softfocus" tricks: http://blog.freepeople.com/2014/08/3-softfocus-lens-effects/

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